The telephone's insistent ringing at three in the morning snatched Sam Workman from dreamless sleep. "Hello," he mumbled. "This is a warning," said a digitally altered voice. "Leave Betterton now! If you don't, you won't live long enough to regret it." "Who is this?" Sam angrily demanded to a dead line. "Unknown name, unknown number," blinked the call identifier. "Coward!" Workman growled and slammed down the receiver. The call was the first episode in a conspiracy to force Sam and his business, B&W Concrete, out of Betterton or destroy them. Followed were attempts to oust B&W from two construction projects, a hospital addition and an engine plant, totaling $400 million in construction costs to yield B&W $10 million profits. Sam retains attorney Penn Roman to stem the tide of disastrous actions drowning B&W in a flood of claims of incompetency and fraud and more threats and violence against Sam, Penn, and Penn's family. When a testing lab employee working on the projects disappears, and the newspaper prints libelous articles condemning B&W, Penn and Sam find themselves entangled in a web of greed, deceit, violence, and murder. Courageously, they face the schemers in an explosive and telling trial to the finish.

Thumbs Down

a novelBy David Cauthen

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 David Cauthen
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-7142-4

Contents

TABLE OF CHARACTERS AND NAMES...............................................XCHAPTER 1 – THREATS...................................................1CHAPTER 2 – ROMAN & NORTH.............................................5CHAPTER 3 – THE ODD COUPLE............................................13CHAPTER 4 – DISTRACTIONS..............................................18CHAPTER 5 – POLITICS..................................................23CHAPTER 6 – FESTERING NEMESES.........................................26CHAPTER 7 – JOCKEYING FOR POSITION....................................44CHAPTER 8 – A PLAN OF ACTION..........................................51CHAPTER 9 – THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET................................57CHAPTER 10 – ALLIANCES AND CONSPIRACIES...............................72CHAPTER 11 – STACKING THE DECK........................................84CHAPTER 12 – SMOKE SCREENS............................................99CHAPTER 13 – MORE TROUBLE.............................................108CHAPTER 14 – BAD BREAKS...............................................120CHAPTER 15 – BAITING THE TRAP AND HAPPY INTERLUDE.....................136CHAPTER 16 – AN UNEXPECTED ALLY.......................................141CHAPTER 17 – FATAL DISCOVERY..........................................150CHAPTER 18 – MONEY AND MONKEY BUSINESS................................164CHAPTER 19 – LUST, STUPIDITY, AND DEATH...............................177CHAPTER 20 – PIECES OF THE PUZZLE.....................................190CHAPTER 21 – INVESTIGATION AND COINCIDENCE............................199CHAPTER 22 – CONNECTING THE DOTS......................................211CHAPTER 23 – TYING RATS' TALES TOGETHER...............................219CHAPTER 24 – BLOOD, WATER, AND BANK ACCOUNTS..........................224CHAPTER 25 – TOE IN THE DOOR..........................................239CHAPTER 26 – EXPLORING THE PAST.......................................252CHAPTER 27 – THE DIKE SPRINGS A LEAK..................................272CHAPTER 28 – A BIG BREAK..............................................286CHAPTER 29 – DESPERATION..............................................300CHAPTER 30 – UNRAVELING TAPESTRY......................................322CHAPTER 31 – HORROR AND TEST OF WILLS.................................342CHAPTER 32 – TROUBLE IN THE RANKS.....................................355CHAPTER 33 – THE PAST REVISITED.......................................366CHAPTER 34 – MORE LEAKS IN THE DIKE...................................377CHAPTER 35 – UNEXPECTED BOOSTS........................................389CHAPTER 36 – ROCKY BEGINNING..........................................398CHAPTER 37 – FACING HARD FACTS........................................411CHAPTER 38 – CALL YOUR FIRST WITNESS..................................425CHAPTER 39 – MORE TERROR..............................................433CHAPTER 40 – UNORTHODOX STRATEGY......................................451CHAPTER 41 – DOUBLE REVERSE...........................................481CHAPTER 42 – FREE-FOR-ALL.............................................495CHAPTER 43 – BACKUPS AND CROSS-TAGS...................................505CHAPTER 44 – LISTENERS AND BOOBY TRAPS................................515CHAPTER 45 – ALLIES AND FORMER ENEMIES................................534CHAPTER 46 – WORDS FROM THE GRAVE.....................................544CHAPTER 47 – THE MEDIA SPEAKS.........................................553CHAPTER 48 – SELF-DEFENSE.............................................564CHAPTER 49 – FACTUAL QUICKSAND........................................585CHAPTER 50 – PROVING THE TRUTH........................................596CHAPTER 51 – INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE....................................613CHAPTER 52 – FATAL VISIT..............................................621CHAPTER 53 – THE WEB TIGHTENS.........................................636CHAPTER 54 – BLIND FOLLOWERS..........................................644CHAPTER 55 – ANOTHER DEFECTION........................................646CHAPTER 56 – THE DEAF HEAR, THE DUMB SPEAK............................650CHAPTER 57 – ANOTHER REVELATION.......................................663CHAPTER 58 – LADY JUSTICE SPEAKS......................................668EPILOGUE....................................................................685ACKNOWLEDGMENT..............................................................691

Chapter One

THREATS

The bedroom telephone's insistent ringing at two o'clock Monday morning catapulted Sam Workman from a deep, dreamless sleep.

Hello," he mumbled as he almost dropped the receiver, unsure he was speaking into the mouthpiece end.

"This is a warning," the digitally altered voice announced. "Get out of Betterton now. If you don't, you'll wish you had."

The words belted Sam from confusion to red-hot anger. With his free hand, he threw back the bedcovers, jerked his long, muscular frame out of bed, and switched on the bedside lamp.

"Who is this?" his normally slow, calm Southern voice growled. His handsome face was flushed, thick, brown hair disheveled. His ice-blue eyes reflected the harsh light.

The line went dead before he could say more.

"Unknown name, unknown number," the illuminated call-identifier blinked.

"Coward!" Workman muttered with disgust into the receiver before slamming it down on its carriage.

He lay down again but couldn't sleep as the sinister, robot-like voice repeatedly played in his mind.

* * *

"First, the malicious rumors my concrete's bad and I'm going out of business," Sam grumbled to Von, B&W Concrete Company's able and faithful secretary and dispatcher, later that morning as he irritably entered the office in Betterton, Alabama.

"You look beat," Von said as she removed her reading glasses and took a closer look at her boss. "What's the matter?"

"Had a bad night. Before daylight I got a threatening phone call telling me to leave town."

"We got one here, too!" Von interrupted excitedly. "It was on the answering machine when I came in."

"What did it say?"

"A man's voice. Sounded weird. Said you better take the warning seriously and leave Betterton," Von exclaimed and frowned. "Said if you didn't, you could get yourself killed. Why would anyone threaten you?"

"You got me!"

"The voice was disguised, sounded automated," Von added in a nervous, high-pitched voice. "Call-identifier was no help.

"Whoever it was, you need to find out and fast. The caller sounded serious. We've never had a call like that before."

"Play it back."

Von punched the message replay button on the telephone. The voice and the substance of the message were similar to those in the call to Sam's apartment earlier that morning except for the threat on Sam's life. The caller ended, saying, "Workman, you better take this warning seriously."

"Must be getting to the competition," Sam quipped with light-heartedness he didn't feel. "It's probably just a prank."

"Well, Mr. Sam Workman," a pale...